[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9299]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             CYBER SECURITY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, on a different matter, I think a lot of 
people were shocked to hear that the Obama administration was unable to 
prevent the information of 4 million Americans from being compromised 
by hackers.
  Officials in the White House now owe it to every American to let 
Congress help them get out of the past and up to speed with the cyber 
security realities of the 21st century. That is just what the measure 
we will soon consider would help do.
  It contains modern tools that cyber security experts tell us could 
help deter future attacks against both the public and the private 
sectors. The measure would also help get the word out faster about 
attacks as soon as they are detected, provide governments and 
businesses with knowledge they can use to erect stronger defenses, and 
help strike a critical balance between security and privacy in the 
process. The bill would do so, for instance, by mandating the creation 
of guidelines to limit the use, retention, and diffusion of consumers' 
personal information.
  This is more than just a smart measure. It is a transparent one too. 
It has been carefully scrutinized by Senators from both parties. It has 
been endorsed overwhelmingly on a bipartisan basis by nearly every 
single Democrat and every single Republican on the Intelligence 
Committee, and it has been posted online and available for anyone to 
read for quite some time.
  The need for this smart, bipartisan, transparent measure couldn't be 
clearer. We shouldn't wait for the administration to fumble away 
another 4 million Social Security numbers or personal addresses before 
we help them get modernized and up to speed.
  That hasn't stopped some Democratic leaders from thinking they should 
try to score some political points by taking down a bipartisan measure 
to combat cyber attacks.
  I hope they won't do that.
  Most Americans would find it awfully cynical for Democratic leaders, 
in the wake of the administration's inability to stop such a massive 
cyber attack, to vote against the very same cyber security legislation 
their own party vetted and overwhelmingly endorsed in committee for the 
sake of scoring some kind of political point.
  We have a smart, transparent, bipartisan, fully vetted measure before 
us that can help make our country safer. Senators in both parties have 
a chance to offer other amendments to the bill and amend it, too.
  My hope now is that we can work together to help pass a measure that 
is in support of the American people and backed by a broad coalition of 
supporters--everyone from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to the U.S. 
Telecom Association. The sooner we do, the sooner we can conference it 
with two similar White House-backed bills that passed the House, and 
the sooner we can finally get a good cyber security law on the books to 
help protect Americans.

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